Sunday, May 31, 2009

SUNDAY FUNNIES - MAD #6

click on any page and be able to read the balloons.

Here is MAD comicbook number 6. This issue pretty much set the pace or standards for the satirical comic book industry. The competitors tried to duplicate the look and the snafu but just didn’t get the inside humor, so to speak.

And another thing you just can’t duplicate and that is innovation.

By issue number six Harvey Kurtzman’s MAD that he had written almost every word had got the nod from the public. They wanted more of the uniqueness that only Kurtzman and his three artists could create.

The above cover was drawn by Harvey Kurtzman. The colors are dark and bold with a well lit center. He knew how to get your attention. Like most of his covers, it is slight reference to a story inside, this time the one drawn by Will Elder lampooning KING KONG.

The subscription page was drawn by Jack Davis. As usual it was detailed with snafu that you could study for hours and still miss something.

TEDDY AND THE PIRATES was drawn by Wallace Wood. Only the opening splash page is shown because I think on a previous blog posting I used it to talk about the rebirth of pirates.

MELVIN OF THE APES. I think John Severin did an excellent job portraying Tarzan, I mean Melvin, of the Apes to have animalistic habits, being raised by them and all. John’s MAD time would soon be over. I think he mostly went unappreciative by MAD lovers.

CASEY AT BAT is an old poem that Kurtzman and Jack Davis got their hands on. Davis is an expert artist at showing athletics in action. And to save money with a limited budget Kurtzman was an expert finding old public domain kind of things to publish.

PING PONG. Well, Kurtzman made a great lampoon of the movie KING KONG and Will Elder illustrated it and put his special trademark of many little details bits of chicken fat….our inspiration.